


An Unfortunate Sighting

by missema



Series: In Modern Kirkwall [6]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cheating, Clubbing, F/M, Lawyer Bran, Married Life, Pregnancy, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 03:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7150976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missema/pseuds/missema
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing is what it seems at first glance. Married and pregnant, Nori Hawke goes out with Isabela for a night of dancing. It doesn't go as planned at all, but as of late, nothing in her life was shaping up quite right.</p><p>Modern Kirkwall AU. This story likely won't make sense without reading At The Viscount's Keep first or Snapshots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unfortunate Sighting

Music throbbed around her in a loud, electronic beat and Nori turned her head to get her drink from the bartender. It was just cranberry juice with a bit of lime, but it made her feel not so out of place as she sipped it. Going out had become rarer over th past few months, for no reason more than that she was always tired. She shouldn't be here, but boredom and Isabela's beckoning drew her away from her bed, where she'd been taking a nap when her friend called.

There wasn't much reason for her to go to a club these days, she had a new house, Bran made her more than happy, and she was busy with school, not to mention that she was just six months pregnant. Hiding her burgeoning belly had been one of her problems with going out to a club, and Isabela's insistence had thrown her into a tizzy. Nori had torn her closet apart looking for a billowy blouse to pair with the only maternity clothes she'd succumbed to buying -- jeans. Well, that wasn't strictly true because nothing felt more comfortable than her giant underwear, but she hadn't gotten around to getting any new tops. It took all her energy just to finish up her midterms.

After wrangling her hair into a somewhat suitable style, Nori unlaced the ties at the top of her blouse, exposing a bit of cleavage. The night fell on the cusp of two seasons, with a cool breeze that was welcome against her swollen breasts. She hoped that they would distract anyone looking at her from seeing her waist. The closer she got to their destination, the more inappropriate it seemed to her, and she wanted to go back home to where it was comfortable and undemanding. Bran would be there soon, she hoped. 

Even as she hoped it, Nori knew there was no guarantee that her husband would come home at any reasonable time. The case he'd been part of recently had taken more of his time than anticipated and he was unhappy, grumbling whenever he came home. He muttered about staying in politics if he wanted to keep these kinds of hours, then would lay back and rub her belly, talking to the baby. They didn't know what the sex was yet, and it was an ongoing fight they'd been having for months. Nori wanted to know, Bran didn't. Whenever they went for an ultrasound, they would argue in the waiting room until Nori gave in and told the technician not to tell them. Bran wasn't a well-paid lawyer for nothing, his arguments always convinced her in the end, but then again, with Nori he bartered with foot rubs and promises of breakfasts in bed.

"Aren't you glad you came out?" Isabela yelled in her ear. She was bobbing up and down in time to the music as they stood at a table. Several sets of eyes were on her as she moved, but Isabela paid them no attention, as always.

"Where's Fenris?" Nori yelled back, unwilling to answer the question. She didn't want to lie to her friend, who'd just wanted to distract her.

"Dunno." Isabela looked around the club, trying to find the white hair of her boyfriend. "Men's room probably. That or bothering the dj. He's got a thing about music," she said. Nori had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

Nori nodded anyway as if she understood perfectly and went back to sipping her juice. The bartender had put a slice of time in it and it almost masqueraded for alcohol. Maker, she hadn't been the biggest fan of clubbing when she was single, the lone attracting feature was that she danced in a careless frenzy when she had a couple drinks in her. Now she couldn't and didn't want to get drunk and the boredom here was worse than if she'd stayed at home. Watching drunk shenanigans ceased to be amusing after the first ten minutes.

They tried dancing, but it made her too hot after only about a half a song. There was nothing she wanted to feel less than sweat rolling down her back, and Nori subsided as soon as the song ended. Isabela continued to gyrate, dancing with whomever cute was caught in her orbit. A short, blonde elf smiled over at Bela, giving her a look Nori knew well. There was going to be some disappointment at the end of the night, at least for the elf. 

Nori fought her way to the bar for some ice water and found a seat at a small table on the edge of the club. She wasn't sitting alone for long -- Brennan was out dancing too. Her former assistant waved at her as she drank with her friends. Nori waved back, not terribly inclined to get up. They still traded emails, kept up with each other. As she sipped her iced water, trying to keep herself from spontaneously combusting, Brennan wove her way over to talk for a few minutes. It had been ages since they'd seen each other, but Brennan was still working at the Keep.

"How's it going, mama?" Brennan asked, giving Nori a quick hug.

"Maker, it's too hot for the likes of me in here. I thought I could at least dance, but it's just too much for me. Should have stayed home with my feet up," Nori admitted, laughing.

Brennan's giggles were lost to the noise, but Nori could see her smile. "Not much longer now is it? I think the Viscount's planning on sending you a gift," Brennan said.

"It's lonely there without you and Bran," Brennan admitted. "Sebastian's got no one to fight with, and he's been walking around with the long face since his model girlfriend ran off."

"He's dating a model?" Nori asked.

"Oh Maker, yes, that Fereldan girl. They were together forever ago, but they broke up. Rumor was his family hated her for being too wild, even though she's Fereldan nobility," Brennan gossiped in a loud voice. The music was almost drowning out every other word and Nori was getting a headache from the shouting. "She showed up, whisked him away for a few days and then hasn't come back since. He's like a zombie walking around the Keep. Luckily, he can still do his work while he mopes."

"Wow, I had no idea he was even seeing someone. I hope it works out."

"Yeah, Varric's got money on whether or not he'll quit when she gets back. I say he doesn't, but I'm in the minority," Brennan told her. "How's Bran?"

"Fine. Busy. Still at work probably," Nori said. Brennan made a face at her.

"Can't believe Rue went with him. It's like all the good people left at once. You can't get him to come back can you? Use your wifely powers?"

Nori laughed, but didn't answer. Going back to the Keep wasn't something she'd considered, not with school and a baby on the way. But Bran was missing it, despite the obscenely large salary that work in the private sector afforded him. She knew he wouldn't give that up easily, not after years at the Keep. Nori's thoughts were on Bran as she finished her water and the conversation petered out. A dense, heavy beat vibrated the walls, the floor, the very seat underneath her as the next song came on.

"Go on and dance, Brennan, you don't have to sit with me. Besides, I think Isabela's coming back."

She was, with a brand new cold beer and a bottle of water for Nori. The water Nori gratefully took and started drinking down, knowing that she would need to get up to use the bathroom soon. Brennan and Isabela exchanged a short greeting, and Brennan got up to rejoin her friends on the dancefloor. Isabela wiped sweat from her brow and took a swig of her beer before pointing up towards the second floor. Fenris was there, his head bent over a screen that illuminated his white hair so it looked blue while another person stood next to him. Presumably that was the dj that Fenris had just displaced.

"See, I told you," Isabela said. "I never know how he gets in, but he always does."

Without thought, Nori looked around the space again, bored. Brennan was dancing in a rhythm-free grind with a very tall woman on the floor, and Fenris was still bent over the lone computer in sight. Besides them and Isabela, there wasn't anyone else around that Nori knew. Strangers were boring to watch in a club, but with little else to do, Nori did just that. Her eyes roamed around the dark, over-filled area, picking up little details she'd failed to notice before. People were hooking up everywhere, and it made Nori more than a little wistful for Bran. He didn't do public displays of affection, but he was excellent at private ones.

There were VIP rooms upstairs that hung over in little lofts above the main floor. Underneath each was a small, shadowed sitting area filled with people that looked like they were the hangers-on for those in the VIP rooms. The unlucky leftovers, as it were. A pillar blocked her from seeing all the people, but so many of them had the slick but not quite right look of poseurs, of trying too hard to fit into an aesthetic they couldn't emulate correctly for all their efforts. They tried for the lacquered veneer of cool and missed the mark so slightly that it was jarring and immediately apparent even to her tired eyes.

A girl in a vinyl skirt that looked like wet underwear stood near the VIP door, laughing as she talked to another girl, her outfit too skimpy to allow her to sit down comfortably. Seeing her made Nori feel unreasonably old, and she was going to turn away, but there was something familiar about a shape she caught out of the corner of her eye. Nori shifted so she could see the person better. Sitting in a booth near the corner was a familiar face, and Nori squinted, making sure that her eyes weren't deceiving her. It was Merrill, sitting on the lap of a redheaded man that was most certainly not Carver. Nori hadn't noticed her before because they'd been kissing, and she'd only seen the back of Merrill's head. A wave of sickness washed over Nori and she clutched at her stomach.

"Are you all right?" Isabela yelled to her, at her side once more. Her friend was peering at her with real concern, Nori's upset apparent on her face.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Nori said. "I need to leave."

"Go to your car. I'll get Fenris and meet you there. Maker, it was probably the heat, this place is sweltering even for me, I can't imagine how you and your extra passenger must feel."

She nodded numbly in agreement, thought it wasn't the heat that was bothering her. If anything, Nori felt a chill that gripped her insides. It didn't stop her from doing what she needed however, and fishing her phone from her pocket, Nori snapped a picture. A fuzzy, underexposed photo to be sure, but one that clearly shower Merril sitting on the lap of someone that wasn't Carver. If she saw them kiss again, Nori might just go over there and confront her. That would end poorly at best, and do nothing to relieve the headache that was threatening to close in on her.

Nori pushed through the crowd of people, her eyesight blurring at the edges as she walked through the distorted, neon lighting towards the door. Right before she exited she looked over her shoulder again, looking back at the table where she'd seen Merrill. It was really her, she thought as she looked over at them again, she recognized everything, her face, her hair, even the way she moved as she leaned over and kissed the ginger stranger again, a smile on her face. Pain coursed through Nori, so powerful that it made her body ache and she felt bile rising in her. She loved Merrill, and her mind couldn't comprehend what she'd seen. 

Walking out the open door, past the people still waiting in line outside, Nori went around to her tiny car and rested against it, taking in gulps of the cool air. How she got Isabela and Fenris home that night, she will never know, but when she went back to the giant house she still had trouble calling home, Bran was waiting in bed.

He glanced up over his glasses at her as she came in, and then back down at his book to mark the page. His hair was wet from the shower. He'd just gotten home. She'd been gone for over an hour before she'd quit the club, and even then he'd been late. These days of his were getting longer and longer, and as her pregnancy went on, she minded it more often.

"I got your email. Did you have a good time?" he asked, smiling at her after he set aside the book he'd been reading. His smile turned to a frown as he took his first good look at her. "Nori, what's wrong?"

"Bran." She wanted to explain to him what she'd seen, how shocked she felt and how horrible this all would be, but nothing came out except tears. Hot, angry tears slid down her face and she couldn't stem the flow, all she could do was stand there and cry.

He sprang from the bed, bringing a tissue from the box on his nightstand as he did, and embraced her. They stood there, her sobbing into his chest and he stroking her hair, concern growing as she continued to cry. For a long time, that was all she could do. There were too many emotions warring within her, and her mind still wasn't quite processing what she'd seen. Why was Merrill out at the club anyway? Did she lie to Carver or did he know? The thought that he might know stilled her, stopped her from crying long enough to regain herself. Bran's blurry face was hard to read, but she could see concern there, in his eyes. 

"What's wrong, Nori?" Bran asked, tipping her face up to his when she finally pulled away from his chest. She took the tissue from his hand and blew her nose before answering.

"I saw Merrill kissing someone that definitely wasn't Carver."

"Shit. That wasn't what I was expecting to hear after all those tears. Maker. Are you sure?" Bran asked, running a hand over his face. 

"I saw her face, her tattoos. She was sitting on his lap, just kissing this random guy."

"Did you say or do anything? Bran asked. Nori shook her head vigorously at him. Then nodded, and took out her phone to show him the picture she'd taken.

"I wasn't about to go over there and start a fight, because that's what it would have turned into. I got sick after I saw it and Isabela thought it was because it was too hot, so I just let her think that. We left right after." At the mention of her sickness, his hand dropped to her stomach.

"This is too much stress for you," he proclaimed and he picked her up as he had when they first moved into their new house, carrying her the few steps to the bed. He set her down heavily, and Nori giggled as he undressed her, taking off her flat shoes and setting them by the side of the bed, then pulling down her elastic waist jeans.

"I should shower," she murmured, but had no intention of getting into the shower again. Sweaty she may have been at the club, but a shower required more energy than she had at present. It would have to happen in the morning.

Bran helped her take off her shirt and bra, then slid her nightgown over her head. She looked up into his tired face, some of the sharp, cleverness hidden under the weight of fatigue. He was still handsome as ever, though she could see a new grey hair just at the front of his head. His hands glided up and down her body, deftly finding tense points and easing out the knots. It took him a good fifteen minutes, but Bran took the frantic, sharp edges from her worry and dulled the worst of the night.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asked, massaging her calf as he did.

"Much. You're very good at that. If that lawyering thing doesn't go well for you, I could hire you to be my personal masseur."

"You don't need to hire me for that," Bran informed her, shooting his smirking grin up at the top of the bed where she lay, propped up by pillows. His grin disappeared after a moment, and he looked away, gazing at the wall, unseeing, her massage at an end. "I hate to bring it up again, but how are you going to tell Carver?"

Nori sighed and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before closing her eyes.

"I don't know. Maybe they're trying something new? Besides, I don't really know about their relationship at all, it could be that they've fallen apart and I haven't noticed, but I can't not say something."

"Why don't you talk to your mother about it?" Bran suggested. "She would probably know better than you or I if something is going on."

"That's not a bad idea. Maybe Mother can figure it out before I go off making accusations." Nori yawned widely, only remembering that she had on lipstick because it settled in the creases of her lips as she did. "I've got to wash my face," she said to Bran. "But why are you so late?" She used the nightstand to leverage her tired body off the bed and made her way into the bathroom. Even through the wall, she could hear Bran sigh.

"It was too much to hope you wouldn't notice. I only got in about twenty minutes before you did."

"That's not an answer," she shouted, then turned on the water. Maker, she had to pee. It was all those drinks. She shut off the tap and went to the bathroom, then resumed washing her face. Bran didn't speak again, not until she was back in bed.

"This case is a monster. Every time I think it's close to the end, it's not even close." He laughed, the sound bitter. "Kind of like legislation that way."

She reached over and touched his face, pushing the soft wave of his slightly damp hair back off his brow. "You miss it."

"This pays better, and we're having a baby."

"I saw Brennan tonight. She misses us."

Bran said nothing more as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. He was nearly sleep already, dead on his feet. If she hadn't come in and started crying, they'd already have gone to bed. Nori gently moved to turn off the light on her nightstand and Bran shut his. Somewhere outside her bedroom, a hall light let in a sliver of uninvited luminance along the edge of her door, but between her own worry and exhaustion and Bran's heavy breathing, she fell asleep without ever turning it off.

#

The next day, Nori called her mother and invited her to the Falcon's Rest. She didn't say why she was calling, but Leandra assumed it had something to do with the baby. Everything these days had to do with the baby as far as her mother was concerned. As Nori had predicted, her mother exited the car with another shopping bag full of gifts. It was becoming her custom, and Nori, so loathe to deny her mother any happiness, let her go on buying the gifts and spoiling a grandchild that hadn't even been delivered yet.

"Darling, I'm glad you called. I needed to drop off these toys so I can go buy clothes now," Leandra said as she kissed Nori in greeting. "Not that I haven't already, but every onesie that's green has peas on it and really, who dresses a baby in peas? It's so strange." She handed Nori the shopping bag as they came into the living room. "Have you found out what you're having yet?"

"No such luck, Mother. Bran is very convincing and he's persuaded me not to find out yet," Nori said, hiding her smile. Iced tea and cookies was already set out on the table between the couches, but only because Bran had the foresight to make the tea in the morning and chill it. Nori ate half the butter cookies as she laid out on the plate. The rest sat neatly on the platter, waiting for her to devour them.

"Darn. Well I thought I'd ask. Marlowe sends his regards and hopes the house is ready for the baby."

"That part's still a work in progress," she admitted, and Leandra laughed.

"So I see," her mother said, sitting down.

Nori snorted. She hadn't even bought real maternity clothes yet, let alone start babyproofing a house she'd just had remodeled. The reason why she'd called her mother weighed heavily on her and showed in the creases on her pretty face when she sat down on the chair across from the couch to talk to her mother. She chose the chair because she was getting round enough in the middle that getting off the couch was difficult. Bran, charming thing that he was, laughed every time she rolled onto her side, but always helped her up in the end.

"Mother, last night I went out with Isabela," Nori began, but was interrupted.

"Norina, you're having a baby! Don't tell me you were out like a college kid, till all hours," Leandra scolded.

"No, it was nothing like that, I practically fell asleep there. It's just that, Mother, I saw Merrill with another man." Nori delivered the blow bluntly because she wasn't sure how else to do it. But she was surprised by what she saw in her mother's face, not shock but resignation. Leandra must have already known something was going on.

"Yes, well I am not pleased but not surprised. She and Carver were having trouble for a while and she had a little fling. I nearly kicked her out of the house, but he insisted that she be allowed to stay."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You'd just found out you were pregnant. No one wanted to upset you in any way. You were on bed rest."

"I wish you'd said something," Nori said, with more than a little petulance coloring her tone. She hated being left out of the loop, even if it had been for her own good.

"As I said to you when you got back with Bran, your relationships are private, as is whatever happens between Carver and Merrill. I am not happy to hear about this, but I will let Carver figure out how to proceed." Nori sighed. She was disappointed, but she saw her mother's point. After all, what could she really do besides tell Carver? It was his choice that would matter, that could change things.

"It doesn't mean that I won't encourage him to let her go," Leandra sighed deeply, the sound mirroring that of her daughter's earlier sigh. She pinched the bridge of her nose before going on. "It just seems more and more like she doesn't want him, but doesn't want anyone else to have him. How can I say that to him? My baby boy, already so careful with his heart, it might just break it beyond repair," she said.

Nori understood. Her mother was walking a fine line between trusting in Carver to make his own happiness and letting him be hurt by blindness. It wasn't an easy thing. Still, she wanted to do something, anything. Merrill wasn't a bad person, but it had stung to see her out, careless of hurting her brother. That hurt had turned partially into fury as Nori had ruminated on what to do about what she'd seen. Leandra understood it, and patted Nori's hand without comment.

They talked a little more, of Bran's increasing workload and his dissatisfaction, of politics and of course, the baby. She and her mother had tea, and then Leandra left Nori with a kiss and a promise to talk with Carver. 

With her task done, Nori napped and ordered maternity clothes online. It didn't make her feel any better, but the jittery, anxious feeling from last night was gone. All she felt now was disappointment. Somehow, maternity clothes weren't quite the lift she needed, but the distraction didn't hurt. She didn't want to hide her pregnancy and wouldn't be able to as the seasons changed. It was getting warmer out and she'd been getting overheated doing just the simplest tasks. 

Anything to not have to think about the heartache her brother must be enduring. Sometimes it sucked being an adult. As a child, she would have just fought anyone that hurt Carver. Yeah, he would have been pissed with her for being overbearing, for not letting him fight his own battles, but he'd always thanked her for standing up for him in the end. She couldn't and didn't want to go fight Merrill, but she was angry and at a loss for what to do. Buying more clothes would have to suffice.

#

Bran came home to find her in her office, sitting in front of the computer playing a game. It looked like an old game, the pixelated graphics and spectacular range of three colors dating it to an origin of decades past. She still looked, tired and worried. It was clear she wasn't expecting him for hours yet, dinner wasn't started but the ingredients were set out in the kitchen. He'd seen them as he walked by and the empty platter and cookie box from Nori's earlier tea with her mother. By her hunched shoulders and dejected look, the talk hadn't gone well. He walked over and kissed her in greeting.

"How was your day?" she asked, smiling up at him. She hung onto his arm as he stood behind her, her face tipped up.

"Fine, I still have some work to do, but I can do it later tonight. How'd it go with Leandra? Did she say anything about Merrill?" 

He didn't really want to know, but it was important to Nori, so he asked. The whole thing left a bad taste in his mouth and he wanted to take Carver by the arm and tell him to move on while he could. He and Carver weren't exactly close, but he could manage that much without stepping on too many toes, he hoped. Nori couldn't hope for the same, her brother was too close to her, too sensitive to her criticism to hear her words. If anything, she might drive him closer to Merrill and away from his family. He felt her take a steadying breath as she started to reply.

"Yes. She said Merrill's done it before, like around the time we found out about the baby." Bran cursed angrily as she spoke, hating the situation. This was going to be bad, and he knew it, because he'd been there before. It was never going to be something that could be resolved happily.

"Then he should let her go. It sound like she's unhappy and it's not being addressed." He ran a hand through his hair, and added, "it's probably something that isn't even to do with Carver, if she keeps doing it. That could be insecurity."

"I don't know what to say. I care about Merrill, but I love Carver. This is all just a mess." Nori sighed, turning away from the game. "But guess what? I bought maternity clothes finally." Her change of subject was abrupt, but appreciated. There was nothing more they could do, no use in fretting over it. It would just make Nori more upset, and neither of them wanted that.

"That is progress. Do you want to go out to dinner?" he asked. Nori nodded. 

"Let's just go, I don't want to think anymore. Ugh, the one time I wish I could get drunk and forget everything, I have the audacity to be pregnant."

"The nerve of our baby, being so cute and inconvenient."

"How do you know the baby is cute?" 

"You're the mother," Bran said, wrapping an arm around her expanded waist. She hugged him, hard and fierce, startling him with the unexpected fervor of her grip. He squeezed her back, mindful of where he pressed.

They went in opposite directions in the house, her to the bedroom and he to the kitchen. He went to put away the beginnings of the dinner in the kitchen for another night. Bran was just finishing, wiping down the counters -- he loved a tidy kitchen -- as she came to stand in the door. She was dressed in a floaty spring dress with a generous middle. When she smiled at him, framed in the doorway, it reminded him so ardently of their time at the Keep, and how they'd fallen in love there, that Bran had to make himself look away.

"You came home early tonight to check on me," Nori said, and he nodded. 

"I thought it was necessary. You were overwrought last night."

"I appreciate it," she said, and held out her hand. He kissed it before lacing his fingers through hers. "Where are we going?" she asked. 

He stopped and thought about it. Last time they'd gone to a steakhouse when she was pregnant she got sick from the smell of charred meats. Damn, that had been months ago, and he couldn't remember if she still was sick from it. There had been no morning sickness, not for her, but certain smells proved to be too much at times.

"Pizza," he decided, and she laughed.

"All right, though I think we're a little overdressed."

Bran's mind wasn't on his clothes, or even food for that matter. Lately, his thoughts had been centered on a desire he wasn't sure how to articulate. "I miss working with you," he said, picking up his keys from the drawer where he left them.

"Is that what's been troubling you?" she asked, her hand pulling him to a halt. "Besides the case, I mean.

"I'm expected to do business, to bring in business and clients and go out to dinner and do all this work, building books of names and such. My pay next year depends on how much I kill this year; I won't have a salary anymore. It's not as fulfilling as it was at the Keep, and not as interesting without you around. Then these cases are awful, endless litigation for corporate pisspots that barely deserve representation."

She reached up and kissed him, a soft kiss just on the corner of his mouth. "That's really not that much different than before."

"I know you're right, but it's still getting under my skin," Bran confessed. 

"You're just a little surly because I haven't ridden you in ages. Now that you're home early, the chances of that are greatly improved. Going out for pizza will help," she said, stopping him before he started to suggest they order it and not go to the fancy brick oven place he'd had in mind.

"Really, Bran, I understand. But what can we do? Marlowe isn't the Viscount anymore and I'm still in school. If you want to go back, I'm sure they would..." she started, but cut her off.

"No," he said, more to himself than her. "Onward and upward." 

"Onward and upward," she repeated, smiling at him. And with that, they left for dinner.


End file.
